Goodnight John
by scifinerdgrl
Summary: When Reyes can't sleep, Doggett tells her a classic American bedtime story.


Title: Goodnight, John  
  
Author: Scifinerdgrl  
  
Rating: PG  
  
Summary: For a bedtime story challenge. Doggett tells  
  
Reyes a bedtime story when she can't sleep.  
  
*****  
  
"I can't sleep," Reyes said as she opened the door to  
  
Doggett's motel room. "Are you awake?"  
  
Doggett raised himself up on one elbow and smiled.   
  
"Jet lag?"  
  
"I suppose," she sighed. "Mind if I sit down?"  
  
He sat up and leaned against the headboard. "Too bad  
  
this place doesn't have room service. I'd offer you  
  
some warm milk."  
  
"That never worked for me anyway. My mother used to  
  
tell me bedtime stories."  
  
"Which ones?" In the dim light from the bathroom  
  
fixture she could see his teeth as he flashed a smile.   
  
"I know them all! I used to tell them to Luke."  
  
"Mexican stories," she smiled back. "I probably never  
  
heard the classic American ones."  
  
"Then you're in for a treat!" He patted the bed,  
  
urging her to sit next to him. "I know a story that I  
  
think you'll love."  
  
She obeyed, settling into the other side of his bed  
  
with her head on his shoulder. He put an arm around  
  
her shoulders and he began his tale:  
  
"Once upon a time there was a man named Rip Van  
  
Winkle. He lived in the mountains with his wife, who  
  
was a real nag. One day he decided to get away from  
  
her for a few hours, so he took his gun and his dog  
  
and went squirrel-hunting at a neighboring mountain.   
  
He took shelter when it started thundering, and there  
  
he found an old man in old-fashioned clothes on an  
  
errand to deliver a huge keg of brew. The old man  
  
asked him for help, and the two carried the keg to an  
  
old-fashioned town in a secluded hollow. After he'd  
  
helped the old man with the load, Rip helped himself  
  
to the brew. He then fell into a deep sleep. When he  
  
woke up the old man was gone, as was his hunting dog,  
  
and his gun was rusted beyond use. He was worried  
  
about the nagging his wife would give him for staying  
  
out all night, and he stroked his chin nervously. But  
  
he was amazed to find in place of his chin, a long,  
  
matted beard. Puzzled, he made his way back to his  
  
town, which had suddenly changed. Nobody on the  
  
street seemed to know him. His house was empty and  
  
needed repair, and a dog that only vaguely looked like  
  
his growled at him. "Even my dog doesn't recognize  
  
me," he said.  
  
So he went to his favorite tavern, but nobody knew him  
  
there, either. Out on the town square he found a  
  
woman with a baby. 'Ma'am, have you heard of Rip Van  
  
Winkle?' he asked.  
  
The woman answered: 'He was my father. It's twenty  
  
years since he went away from home with his gun, and  
  
never has been heard of since. His dog came home  
  
without him; but whether he shot himself, or was  
  
carried away by the Indians, nobody can tell."  
  
He asked about his wife the nag and was relieved to  
  
find she had recently died. "It's me. I am your  
  
father!" he announced. After a long while he  
  
convinced everyone that he was the long lost Rip Van  
  
Winkle, then he moved in with his daughter and for the  
  
rest of his life he was a legend in his town  
  
THE END"  
  
Reyes' soft breathing and the weight of her head on  
  
his shoulder told him that the story had done the  
  
trick. She was sound asleep. He moved aside, letting  
  
her fall gently onto his pillow.  
  
"Goodnight, Monica," he whispered, though he was sure  
  
she wouldn't hear him. "Sometime I'll tell you the  
  
story of the man who came out of a nine-year   
  
nightmare to find a woman who could make him feel  
  
twenty years younger."  
  
Once inside her adjoining room, he rested his head  
  
against the door as he slowly closed it, trying not to  
  
make a sound. And it was then that he heard a  
  
feminine voice whisper, "Goodnight, John."  
  
THE OTHER END 


End file.
